Color didn’t exist until the late 1960s, early 70s. As a child, in my adorable ignorance, I knew that cameras recorded life, and life was simply monochromatic for a very long time. Roses were gray, violets were grey, people were grey, and the darker greys had a lot of reasons to be grey about it.
Silent films are overrated, mostly because I refuse to watch them. They’re trash! They make no sense! They rely on too much on cultural context, or understanding of social cues and body language, or some fogey (or indoctrinated non-fogey) hocking it like it’s the pinnacle of human expression, or an old-fashion attention span threshold. Fuck all that, watch this:
Anna Seregina (Stubby), Clare O’Kane (Fat) and Kyle Mizono (Ham), all with local tides, all brilliantly hilarious, look like they’re having a lot of fun in, what’s admittedly the product of “unmarketable labor”. Ragtime music, damaged “film stock” and herky jerky speediness provide a loose framework to roll on the floor and employ racy—?—title cards. The anti-talkies enjoy a frenetic pace, wild breaks of plot logic, and a showcase of Seregina’s physicality, countenance gymnastics, and timing.